Our Executive Team

MacKillop's Executive team lead over 1200 staff across Victoria, New South Wales and West Australia to strengthen, nurture and empower children, young people and families.

Robyn is passionate about social justice and the rights of children and families. As a social worker and family therapist, Robyn has over thirty years' experience in the child and welfare sector. Robyn is committed to training and supportive supervision for colleagues to provide best practice to the children and families we serve. When not traveling to MacKillop programs all over Australia, Robyn delights in her own five children and two beautiful grandchildren.

– Dr Robyn Miller, Chief Executive Officer

Gerard brings over 25 years’ experience the community services sector, managing operations and working directly with children, young people and families. Gerard is passionate about the impact of the Sanctuary Model to strengthen the safety of staff and clients and improve the outcomes children and families. In his downtime, Gerard spends time with his family and enjoys music, reading and the never ending work of renovating his own and his family’s homes.

– Gerard Jones, Deputy CEO and Director of the Sanctuary Institute

Graham leads the Corporate Services area. With a commerce degree in law and accounting, a fellow with AICD and over 35 years in senior management in corporate services, Graham brings vast experience in financial and asset management, company reporting, secretarial duties and governance. Graham has completed a Melbourne marathon, the Lorne Pier to Pub for the past 20 years and more recently has become a doting grandfather.

– Graham Boal, Group Director of Corporate Services

Dr Nick Halfpenny has practiced in the child and family sector for over 14 years in the areas of research, quality, advocacy and practice and policy development. Nick and his team seek to improve outcomes for the children, young people and families we serve by investigating and evaluating new ways of working, advocating for social policy change and measuring the impact of our services.

– Dr Nick Halfpenny, Director of Policy and Research

Jennie Hannan AM oversees early intervention and foster care services for children and families in the Pilbara, Perth and the South West. Jennie has a background in social work, management, policy, family and childrens’ therapy and mediation and is passionate about the rights of the children we work with. She is focused on expanding our Aboriginal partnerships to ensure culturally appropriate care to Aboriginal children. She is a proud mother of two (and a west highland terrier) and recently became a grandmother.

– Jennie Hannan, State Director WA Jennie Hannan

Ninevah leads and supports the Victorian North, South, East and After Hours teams to provide high quality services to children, young people and families, build and foster respectful relationships and develop innovative family-centred services. Ninevah has over twenty years’ experience in the sector in social work, community development, post graduate studies and mental health. Due to personal experiences, Ninevah continues to work closely with the Peter MacCallum Cancer centre as a patient advocate on issues affecting lung cancer research and raising awareness of this disease. Ninevah lost her partner, Brian in April 2018 due to lung cancer and is raising her three year old twins, Ava and Charlize.

– Ninevah Hooper, Director of Children Youth and Families, North South and East Victoria

Ilkin’s role is to lead and develop the improvement of service delivery across MacKillop, champion our Child Safe values and achieve the best outcomes for children, youth and families. Ilkin supports program staff, strengthens practice, fosters key relationships in government, community and partner agencies and drives innovation in family-centred programs. Ilkin has two children aged 16 and 20 and is passionate about health, cultural safety and social justice.

– Ilkin Il, Director of Children, Youth and Families West Victoria

Maryanne leads the NSW team in offering services across the state, including rural and remote areas working with Indigenous communities. She has a strong belief in the values and strengths of all the families we work with and in their ability to achieve their full potential. As a Psychologist, Maryanne brings a clinical approach to all of the work that she does. When not at work her favourite pastime is visiting New York and searching for good coffee!

– Maryanne Jacobs, State Director NSW

Sam leads the Community Engagement team, which seeks to inspire people to get involved with MacKillop by sharing stories about our work and the people we support. With a background in law and strategic communications, he brings valuable experience in marketing, communications, stakeholder engagement, governance and fundraising to MacKillop. Outside of work, Sam hones his storytelling skills every night with his two children, Ethan and Grace.